Assurance of God’s Victory over Enemies
A Song. A Psalm of David.
“O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory. Awake, lute and harp! I will awaken the dawn.
I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples, and I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your mercy is great above the heavens, and Your truth reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and Your glory above all the earth; that Your beloved may be delivered, save with Your right hand, and hear me.
God has spoken in His holiness: “I will rejoice; I will divide Shechem and measure out the Valley of Succoth. Gilead is Mine; Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is the helmet for My head; Judah is My lawgiver. Moab is My washpot; over Edom I will cast My shoe; over Philistia I will triumph.”
Who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me to Edom? Is it not You, O God, who cast us off? and You, O God, who did not go out with our armies? Give us help from trouble, for the help of man is useless. Through God we will do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies.”
“O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory. Awake, lute and harp! I will awaken the dawn.”
This is another one of David’s psalms, even though an earlier psalm claimed to be his last one. Obviously, David did not compile the psalms. “I will awaken the dawn.” As I am writing this, my husband is watching an American football game, and the fans are making LOTS of noise. David is promising to make so much noise that he will cause dawn to come early. Why is David so enthusiastic?
“I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples, and I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your mercy is great above the heavens, and Your truth reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and Your glory above all the earth; that Your beloved may be delivered, save with Your right hand, and hear me.” David is praising God but in addition, he is begging God for deliverance.
“God has spoken in His holiness: “I will rejoice; I will divide Shechem and measure out the Valley of Succoth. Gilead is Mine; Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is the helmet for My head; Judah is My lawgiver. Moab is My washpot; over Edom I will cast My shoe; over Philistia I will triumph.” David is reminding God of His previous promises.
“Who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me to Edom? Is it not You, O God, who cast us off? and You, O God, who did not go out with our armies? Give us help from trouble, for the help of man is useless. Through God we will do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies.” Evidently, David feels as if God has withdrawn His protection, allowing David’s armies to be defeated. Why would God withdraw protection that He has already promised? Perhaps some of David’s men have committed a major sin. Perhaps David has failed to follow God’s instructions. David remains confident that God will come through when he asks.
APPLICATION: Does a setback mean that God has abandoned you? Can we trust God to fulfill His promises of protection? On the one hand, David is praising God; on the other, he’s querying God as to the reasons for a recent defeat and begging God for deliverance.
God allows setbacks for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes we have plunged ahead without seeking God’s guidance. Sometimes we have failed to heed signs warning us of imminent disaster. Many times, we feel that the problem at hand is one we can tackle using our own common sense, forgetting that God is the One who knows all ends from their beginnings. And sometimes God allows small problems because He has a bigger object in mind.
Typhoid is a bacterial illness that you can get repeatedly, even if you have been vaccinated. When I get typhoid, I feel so weak that all I can do is to stay home and rest. As the only doctor in a remote rural hospital, my bouts of typhoid have allowed me to have the reason I need to rest; otherwise, people just assume that I am the Energizer bunny and that I can keep going indefinitely.
Sometimes God blesses us with poverty to keep us from making foolish mistakes. In the early 1960’s in the Middle West, many farmers spent enormous sums of money to purchase blue fiberglass silos for storing silage to feed beef cattle. Within two decades, most of the cattle were now being fed in huge lots further west while feed lots in our area were empty; meanwhile, these families were still paying off the bank loans they had taken. Some of these families lost their farms when land prices suddenly dropped by 50% overnight because they had used their land as security for those loans. One time I was discussing this phenomenon with my dad, a lifelong farmer. I asked Dad how he had been smart enough not to go in for one of these silos. Dad looked at me funny and then said, “Well, it was simple. We didn’t have the money for the down payment.” That temporary poverty protected my family from later losing their land.
Are you facing a setback? Are you entering the New Year wondering if God really cares about you? Rejoice! God cares and God is still looking out for you. But remember that sometimes God uses setbacks to protect you. David ends this psalm by saying, “Give us help from trouble, for the help of man is useless. Through God we will do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies.” God doesn’t play favorites, and He can help you just as he did King David. Hold on and trust!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, many of us feel stressed out and exhausted. Help us to rest in You, trusting that You will bring us through all our problems and that You have a perfect solution for them. Thank You for using our setbacks to protect and guide us. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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